§ Mr. Moonmanasked the Secretary of State for Industry what is the most recent allocation of funds from the European Regional Development Fund; and which areas will benefit.
§ Mr. CryerIn July this year, the European Commission approved contributions amounting to £23.42 million from the European Regional Development Fund towards the cost of projects in the United Kingdom as follows:
Region £000's Northern 10,622 North-West 1,807 Yorkshire and Humberside 772 East Midlands 86 South-West 234 Total England 13,521 Northern Ireland 4,195 Scotland 4,061 Wales 1,643 Total United Kingdom 23,420 Details of the projects were given in "Trade and Industry" of 22nd July.
§ Mr. Silvesterasked the Secretary of State for Industry (1) what is the average cost per job provided or assisted by projects receiving the regional development grant;
(2) what is the total amount of regional development grant spent in 1976–77; and 113W how many jobs this has provided or assisted;
(3) how much regional development grant has been spent in 1976–77 on projects providing under 100 jobs, between 100–500 jobs and over 500 jobs, or whatever other similar divisions are conveniently available.
§ Mr. CryerIn 1976–77 the total amount of regional development grant paid was £407,709,257. As was explained in the White Paper "Industrial and Regional Development" issued in March 1972 (Cmnd. 4942) these grants are not limited solely to projects which provide employment. No statistics are available of the number of jobs provided or assisted as a result of these grants.